Box Score

Phoenix, AZ -- Saturday afternoon was the second meeting in three days between Academy of Art and Grand Canyon with GCU taking the match 3-0. The Antelopes, #4 in the latest NSCAA West Region Poll, took a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute and held off the Urban Knights for a victory on their home GCU Soccer Field.

"The team showed a lot of heart and discipline against a very good Grand Canyon team," head coach Daniel Rosaia said. "We went out there to play back-to-back matches which is tough, but our team is prepared to play at any time. Our attitude is that we just want to play. But we played against this team tough today and the defense played well."

Like the first contest between these two teams on Thursday, Grand Canyon made its first shot count with a goal by Cordero Young off an assist from Tony Valera to start. That score in the 6th minute may have put the 'Lopes up early, but their defense would not hold off ART U forever. An aggressive attack by Academy of Art's junior midfielder Brazer Bozlak came in the 21st minute though his attempt ended up being saved by GCU's goalkeeper. The Knights kept some pressure on with a corner kick by sophomore forward Aron Ekberg a minute later, but it could not force a tie score. In the 30th minute, however, Grand Canyon scored again by way of a connection from Nick Sykes to Young. A 2-0 score at halftime did not put the Antelopes out of the woods yet.

"Even though we were down 2-0 at the half, we were actually pressing them for the first 15 minutes of the second half just to get something started," Coach Rosaia said. "Overall I thought the team responded well today to come back and play tough after the previous match."

ART U junior goalkeeper Ian Sutherland made numerous key saves throughout the early portion of the second period including two in two minutes at one point. The Pacific West Conference's leading scorer Saeed Robinson saw time during the second half, but was held scoreless. A 3-0 lead was later built by GCU when Guido Riffeser scored from 30 yards out off a pass from Jordan Diana. That advantage would eventually result in the 'Lopes' seventh PacWest victory of the year.

Offensively, ART U had one shot on goal from Bozlak as well as a shot by sophomore midfielder Patrick Heinemann. In Sutherland's eighth consecutive complete game for Academy of Art, the junior had six saves and three goals allowed. The Knights move to 4-9 overall, 3-6 in PacWest action.

With two more goals in this match, Young added to his season total and now has six. Valera, Sykes, and Jordan each picked up assists while Riffeser finished with the other Grand Canyon goal. Goalkeeper Adam Garcia turned in a complete 90-minute shutout for GCU with one save. The Antelopes now sport a 7-1-1 conference record, 10-3-1 overall.

With this final out-of-state roadtrip now wrapped up, ART U returns to California for three of its next four contests at Boxer Stadium. The first installment comes Wednesday when the Knights welcome BYU-Hawaii to the Bay Area for a 1:30 PM match following the women's game.

"Our goal as a unit is to finish strong," Coach Rosaia said. "We want to try to put together a win streak to try to make sure we finish the season strong. Then we'll have momentum heading into the spring and be ready to reload for next year."